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Taking Copernicus Back
Commercial Hangar - Not-Blot Station Abuzz with activity, this area holds sleek corporate shuttles, bulky freighters, and public transportation to and from the Sol system. Docking ports ring the central column like airport gates, leading to comfortable waiting rooms for those waiting for either transportation or goods. Along the floor of the hangar are neatly-arranged steel crates and containers holding freight for customers in the Sol system and beyond. Shuttles slip silently in and out of the huge exterior doors, going about their business of transporting passengers and cargo where they are needed. Repugnus was pretty upset that the Autobots hadn't exploited the weaknesses he had opened up in Copernicus/Not-Blot Station, and had been hectoring the Autobots command staff about it at every opportunity. However, if there's one thing Repugnus isn't good at it, it's reasoning with others in a calm and collected fashion, so typically he was told to shut up again and again. Thus, Repugnus figured, if he can't get through the Autobot commanders, he'll go around them. He approached the EDC with a plan to retake the station, showing a form stating that it had been approved by Ultra Magnus himself. It wasn't. It was a forgery. But that can be sorted out later. Now, an Autobot shuttle is approaching the station, helmed by a gumby. Repugnus is standing behind the pilot, smirking. "Now, you gents are probably wondering how we'll get there without getting shot down before we so much as set foot there. Well, guess what. Last time I was there, I left behind a little surprise..." Revealing a remote communicator, he depresses a button... and suddenly all radar and point defense systems on the station shut down. "Yeah, Decepticons did a terrible job with digital security there, slipping this worm in was a simple matter." He turns and smiles to the passengers. "Any questions before the killing starts?" Bluestreak is jittery, it was nerves, pure and simple. A mixture of excitement and nervousness came over him as he started to shift a little. He was trying to stand at attention and failing, he just wanted to get in there. "How long does that last, keeping the systems shut down?" He asked Repugnus as he watched it all turned off. Venom, the paranoid commander of the Insecticons, recently lost his home when Ultra Magnus decided to blow up the Undersea Base! Unwilling to relocate to Mars, given its inhospitable climate, and believing all the good secret labs on Cybertron were taken, he chose Not-Blot Station. Hardly utilised, barely given a second thought, it was perfect. He even found that he could tolerate the smell, once he reduced the sensitivity of his olfactory sensors by a factor of 5. He's currently in his new lab, tidying up, and arranging his beakers, Bunsen Burners, and the rest of his equipment, just the way he likes it. Talia McKinley pretty much expects that form was forged or otherwise unofficial... But to hell with that, a chance to kick the Decepticons in the gearbox and take back what could be a -very useful- orbital station was taking precedent here. Words of the orders be damned when the spirit of them is to kick ass and protect the planet. And if nothing else, Briar did declare martial law when he was in charge, and she hasn't seen anyone in rank step up to -un-declare it... so. Shame her craft wasn't fitted for what was likely going to be no-atmosphere environments. But she wasn't going to let that stop her from contributing. The pulse rifle she was toting was just generic EDC armaments, but she'd fitted it with the same holo-laser targetting hardware as her personal sidearm. "This is gonna be just like a good ol' showdown.. just with giant alien robots and y'all." Setting the rifle aside for the moment she zipped her pressurized, and thankfully lightly armored, environmental suit and slipped the helmet into place over her head. Shadow knows better than to think the Autobots will leave the station alone. As such, he is constantly on guard, even as he stays in the background like he usually does. At the moment he is checking the radar systems, and is puzzled when they suddenly shut down. That's definitely not normal. Shadow mutters a Cybertronian curse as he tries to locate the problem. James Bailey leans forward, his face emerging from the shadows that fell inexplicably over the small terran-sized chair where he was seated. His face shows eagerness and a certain satisfaction. He knows they're just getting started but as far as he's concerned this has been a long time coming. "It'll last long enough," he says confidently, hopping up out of the chair, he paces along the floor of the shuttle until he ends up in front of Bluestreak. "It's just got to get us aboard. Once we're there, well...let's just say the EDC left a few tricks and we've been dying for a chance to use them." He looks closely at the Autobot. "And well...I've read your file, Bluestreak. I know what you're capable of, and what you've been through. You could very well tip the scales." Combat: James Bailey inspires Bluestreak with heroic and lofty words! Flywheels was monitoring the sensors and assisting with repairs when they suddenly shut down unexpectedly. He begins arguing with himself, as usual. "What the /slag/ was that?!" "Oh, probably just some malfunction thanks to some stupid technician." "No you glitch, it's not just the sensors, point defense is down, too." "Fragging Autobots..." "Hahaha! Did they seriously think this was a good sneak attack?" "Well if we can't /see/ them coming, we can't shoot at them, scrapheap." Repugnus grins down at James. "Yeah, pretty much what he said. It'll last however long it takes for someone to reboot the systems or purge the worm, aaaaand, if they didn't upgrade the Copernicus's systems from what I saw last time, they won't be able to before we're aboard. Speaking of which..." He watches the station grow larger and larger. "We should be aboard very soon! I dunno about you guys, but I'm getting a tingle up my leg over this!" Down in one of the docking bays, a Decepticon gumby is milling about when a docking bay door grows red hot shortly before exploding inwards as it's rammed aside by an Autobot shuttle. The gumby shrieks and tries to dive out of the way, but he's not fast enough and one of the door halves smashes him into the wall, embedding him into it. Shortly afterwards, a ramp lowers, and Repugnus casually steps down from it, looking around like he owns the place. "Ah, feels so good to be back!" Meanwhile, attempts to diagnose what's wrong with the systems mostly reveal obscene and grotesque flash animations involving well-known Decepticons. Bluestreak smiles at James, feeling more calmer now. "Thanks." He told the human. Then he watches as the ship lands on the space shuttle. Hearing the ramming and the shriek of the gumby as the door embeds him to the wall, he followed Repugnus out. Not paying any mind to the drone, he looks around him, wondering if there are any more Decepticons near. Talia McKinley grabs her rifle and snatchs it up with the same motion one would one-handed cock a shotgun. It actually serves a purpose, sliding the lower grip back into place is what locks certain connections in place and essentially functions as a large safety on/off switch. At least as she follows the Bots out of the shuttle, unlike some humans knack for running into the middle of everything (and wearing yellow boots) she stays behind the 'big guns'. She knows she's here as a spotter and sharpshooter, not the tankers. Combat: Talia McKinley sets her defense level to Guarded. Venom planned to wipe the memory core of the station, and install the Panels 7 operating system on Tuesday. He's already done that for his laboratory, which is on a system than the rest of the station, including having its own power supply. Paranoid doesn't even begin to cover this cicada-bot. Moving over to his alien ant farm, he picks up a datapad, which displays a checklist, "47,000 Janus Fighting Ants, 53,000 Inferno Fire Ants, and 4,200 Azteranean Worker Ants." He taps at the transparent vibracium wall, to see if one of them responds. It looks up at him, twitching its mandibles. Unfortunately, one of the other breeds of mechanical ants uses this moment's hesitation to attack, flailing with razor sharp limbs, and begins to gorge itself on the remains of its fallen foe. "Make that 4,199 Azteranean Worker Ants." Flywheels is repulsed by the animations Repugnus has created. "Tch, some of these Autobots have a /terrible/ sense of humor!" Though the more brash and battle-eager side of him would probably find a vid of the same things happening to Autobots amusing. Suddenly, alarms begin to shriek throughout the station. "Well, looks like the Autoboobs are here." "Weellll what are we waiting for, let's go knock some heads!" "By ourselves? You don't even know how many they've brought." "Strutless coward." "Just wait, you'll get your chance. They'll be here soon, no need to go rushing after them."He prepares himself to face the enemy. Combat: Flywheels sets its defense level to Fearless. Shadow raises an optic ridge at the flash animations. He doesn't admit this often, but he is very disturbed. He darts away from the radar screen, out into the open where he attempts to locate an Autobot shuttle, which he is sure is approaching, even if it's not detected. Why else would the radar go out so suddenly? Repugnus walks towards the lift. "Welp, if the 'cons don't put up much more resistance then we should just make our way up to the bridge aaaand... oh, hi, Decepticon!" he says cheerfully as Shadow runs into view. "Excellent, yeah, I was kinda disappointed at the reception we had gotten so far. Know if any of your friends are coming? Because you're going to NEED them! Heheheheh!" The Decepticon isn't quite in mangling range just yet, so Repugnus settles for blasting him with a low-powered shot from his Venom Laser. Combat: Repugnus misses Shadow with his Laser attack! As soon as there's a Decepticon spotted Talia does the smart thing... That is, duck behind a stack of TF sized cargo bins for cover. Propping her rifle over the top of one lower edge she leans into the electronic sights and waits for another Decepticon to wander into view. Because there's never going to be just one... So intent on looking around that he almost didn't notice the Decepticons already rushing in, or rather just the one. Bluestreak watched as Repugnus just fires at Shadow. Even though he had his rifle at the ready, he didn't think the Decepticon was close enough to come within firing range. So he held off, because he was most certainly going to come after them now. Combat: Bluestreak sets his defense level to Aggressive. Venom turns from his alien ant farm, and sees a soft blinking light. The laboratory is equipped to inform him of any kind of emergency, but in a way that wouldn't interrupt his work. He walks over to a console, and presses a button, opening a frequency to the bridge, "Bridge, this is Venom, status report?" Except, the transmission does not go through, it seems that it was disabled in the attack, but the alarm is working perfectly. So, he makes his way back towards the alien at farm, spends a moment ensuring that everything is in order, and then heads towards the blast doors, which part, and he moves into the corridors, electro-blaster in hand. He hugs the wall as he moves, careful and quiet. In fact, he flies, floating a few inches above the floor, so as not to make a sound. As he approaches a corner, Venom extends a device, which is basically a camera attached to an antenna, so that he can see what's there before he enters. He takes a look around, and learns that they've been boarded. Slowly, the device retracts, and he nudges, ever so slightly, so that he can get one arm, part of his chest, and his optics. He's not really focusing on aiming, but still tries to hit something. Combat: Venom sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Venom strikes Bluestreak with his Electro-Blaster attack! Shadow mentally berates himself for such a foolish move. He does, however, duck back and manage to avoid the laser from Repugnus. He narrows his yellow optics at the sight of the incoming Autobots and EDC soldiers, summoning his sword as he prepares for battle. He analyzes the situation quickly, and makes a decision right away. He goes after Bluestreak, attempting to run him through. Combat: Shadow strikes Bluestreak with his Shadow Sword attack! Misfire comes walking through the corridors, looking down at Aimless. He appears to have a large broom in his hands. "Ugh, Aimless couldn't keep your mouth shut...Now, here we are...stuck cleaning up..." Misfire shakes his head as he encounters the begins of a laser battle. Aimless, leaps backwards from the fighting, banging into the larger Misfire who staggers backwards a step. He throws the broom to the side. "Show time!" Aimless begins to peer around looking for a hiding spot, as Misfire reaches down to manhandle Aimless. The pair struggle as Misfire forces Aimless into his gun mode. "Ughghghghh...." Misfire grunts as Aimless wiggles around, but is finally subdued into his weapon mode. It seemed the fight had started down in the shuttle bay already, so Flywheels quickly jets on down there to find Repugnus, Bluestreak, and a couple of EDC personnel. "Hah, wow, looks like they brought in best of the whole damn army!" He scoffs. He fires off a quick shot at Repugnus from his laser weapon. Combat: Flywheels strikes Repugnus with its Laser Cannon attack! Talia McKinley keeps her head low behind her improvised cover, not wanting to make herself an open liability to the Autobots instead of assisting them. Well aware of just how vulnerable she can be out here with just her wits and a gun. But if a reporter can do it and not back down, then by gum so can she!" When someone starts shooting from farther down the hallway while trying to hide around a corner she turns her weapon in that direction, trying to get a better vantage point that some of the Autobots might be able to and pinpoint the would-be sneak for his intended victim. Combat: Talia McKinley takes extra time to assist Bluestreak's next attack. James Bailey has been tagging along close to Bluestreak this entire time. He sees the (much) larger Autobot take a heavy looking hits and then an even heavier looking melee attack, and James winces internally. So much for the big guns. But all he says out loud is a grim "So much for the element of surprise." But then he sees Talia's strategy and nods. The systems of an Autobot aren't all that different from those of an advanced Exo-suit. And while he hasn't worked on one of those highly advanced machines for weeks, sometimes old habits die hard. "You're not out of this yet," he remarks as he goes to work. Combat: James Bailey quickly patches up some of Bluestreak's minor injuries. Bluestreak notices far too late that another Con was approaching from behind, he gets stung from the attack, his doorwings and back taking the hit. Stumbling backwards, he turned to see who hit him, only to take another hit again from the Decepticon before. He falls and slides back, deciding to aim right for the one who came at him from behind, believing his comrades would look out for his back and take the Con that tried to slive him open. Seeing James help repair some of his damage, he nods his thanks as he aims and shoots for the Insecticon. Combat: Bluestreak strikes Venom with his Ion-Charge Disperser Rifle attack! Repugnus staggers from the laser blast, glancing down at the hole in his chest. He laughs it off. "Ha, nice shot. Say, what the hell are you? It's like a jet Decepticon crashed into a tank Decepticon, and then the two of them decided to just stay that way. Ha! I bet that's what happened. Ah well, too bad your death won't be as interesting..." Transforming into monster mode, Repugnus says, "...but first, since we got everyone on the dance floor, how about a little DISCO, scarecrow!? HAHAHAHA!" And his bulbous optics light up to bewilder anyone looking directly into them! Even Venom isn't safe, since the stroboscopic effect can still carry over from the camera he's using. Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode! Combat: Bug Creature sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Bug Creature strikes Misfire with his Stroboscopic Eyes Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Misfire's Accuracy. (Blinded) Combat: Bug Creature strikes Venom with his Stroboscopic Eyes Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Venom's Accuracy. (Blinded) Combat: Bug Creature misses Shadow with his Stroboscopic Eyes Area attack! Combat: Bug Creature strikes Flywheels with his Stroboscopic Eyes Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Flywheels's Accuracy. (Blinded) Venom ducked back behind his cover after striking Bluestreak in the back with his nifty little Electro-Blaster, but when he pulled out for a second attempt, he found himself dead centre in Bluestreak's viewfinder, taking the full brunt of an Ion-Charge Disperser Rifle shot. It knocks the Electro-Rifle out of his hand, sending it sliding towards another piece of cover in the Hanger Bay. "Okie dokie, now you're being rude, and I hate rude sentient beings." Diving out from his section of cover, he hurls a small grey box in the general vicinity of Bluestreak, rolling into a somersault, and ending near his Electro-Blaster. The box shatters on impact, sending many hundreds of mechanical alien ants, a grey and a burgundy variety, who incidentally like to feed on metal, especially living metal. Misfire finally wrestles Aimless into a combat position, he points Aimless at Repugnus as he stares into his optics. "Soooo....shiny....." He stares transfixed, but throws up his arms after a moment as he lets our scream as his optics are blinded. "UGH!!!!" He staggers backwards and lowers Aimless at Repugnus and blindly fires at where he thinks Repugnus could be. Combat: Venom sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Misfire sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Misfire's Blinded by Light! Revved up like a Joker! attack on Bug Creature goes wild! Combat: Misfire misses Flywheels with his Blinded by Light! Revved up like a Joker! attack! -3 Combat: Venom misses Bluestreak with his Alien Ant Swarm attack! Flywheels cries out as Repugns' attack temporarily dazzles him, and he is nearly hit by Misfire. "Misfire you scrapheap, I guess I can see now why you're /called/ that." he remarks with disgust. He staggers backward and transforms, his unified biped form splitting into two vehicular components. The lower part of him, the self-propelled howitzer, fires wildly in the direction of the enemy. Flywheels splits apart, his two components shifting into their respective F-4 Phantom II and self-propelled howitzer forms. Combat: Jet and Tank strikes Talia McKinley with its Bombardment Area attack! Combat: Jet and Tank strikes Bluestreak with its Bombardment Area attack! Combat: Jet and Tank strikes Bug Creature with its Bombardment Area attack! Combat: Jet and Tank strikes James Bailey with its Bombardment Area attack! "Exit route's clear- I'm going in!" Lt. Melody Reynolds calls out over the short-band radio, and then she's bounding out of the Autobot shuttle, encased in her battlesuit, combat rifle already in hand! Easily dwarfed by the larger combatants, Melody's armor still stands taller than the other humans on the mission- humans that Melody makes it a point to stay close to. "No!" she says, even as she sees Flywheels hit them with his bombardment! "Bailey, McKinley, do you read?" James Bailey dives for cover in the sudden barrage. He manages to avoid a direct hit, but the shockwave of an explosion directly behind him still flings James through the air. He slams against a wall, blinking and shaking his head. The slight unfocused look in his eyes hints at a concussion. It's only the radio call that brings him back to the present. "I read you," he confirms. "Resistance heavier than expected - need backup." No point in holding anything in reserve now, he thinks grimly. And with that thought, James pulls out a disklike device and winds up, flinging it frisbee-like into the midst of the Decepticons. Bug Creature scampers off to the side, giggling as Misfire takes a dazed shot at him and misses horribly. "No, I'm over here! Or am I over there? Or there--GAH!" Even as he happily evaded Misfire's shots, Flywheels took a different approach by simply shelling everything he could, which worked out much better given that he scored a direct on him, a shell exploding against Repugnus's giant head. "Wellllll! So I guess you two CAN separate after all. I'll give you this--that's a neat gimmick! But while half of you is flying around..." He stalks up to the artillery piece, claws snapping out as drool seeps from between his grinning fangs. "The other half is DYING around! HAHAHAHA!" Stabby stabby! Combat: James Bailey strikes Jet and Tank with Demolition Charge's Small Explosion #10331 Area attack! Combat: James Bailey's Demolition Charge is destroyed! Combat: James Bailey strikes Venom with Demolition Charge's Small Explosion #10331 Area attack! Combat: James Bailey strikes Misfire with Demolition Charge's Small Explosion #10331 Area attack! Combat: Bug Creature strikes Jet and Tank with his Shearing Claws attack! Talia McKinley ah craps as one of the Cons transforms (half of himself?) into a cannon and starts firing, ducking back behind her cover of cargo containers. Thankfully none of the shelling hits directly, but in the small confides of indoor battle shockwaves alone are enough to knock her against the wall and send shrapnel flying over her head. "Loud and clear, Reynolds," she remarks over her comm-set, not losing her demenor even as she's getting back up. "Come t' help with this little roadblock sugah?" Once again propping herself over the stack of crates she braces her pulse rifle and takes a shot at the Targetmaster to try and keep him off his guard while the others are dealing with the tank gunner. Combat: Talia McKinley misses Misfire with her Laser Pulse Rifle (Laser) attack! Misfire looks at Flywheels and shrugs. "Uhhhhh...my bad..." He then yells at Aimless. "Focus Aimless!" He then turns back to the crowd as his vision slowly returns to normal. In the nick of time, he spies Talia McKinley taking a shot at him, he stumbles to the side, avoiding the shoot. He lets out a grunt as he steadies himself and points Aimless at Talia. Aimless emits. "Heya Pretty lady!", before Misfire pulls the trigger. A laser blast flies towards Talia, Aimless emits, "Ugh...Misfire...I was talking to her!" Combat: Misfire misses Talia McKinley with his Laser attack! This has not been a good day for Venom, it's not been a good week, or a good month. Diving into the safety of cover behind one of their Vengeance-class attack shuttles, he happened to dive right where the Frisbee-like explosive device had been flung, taking a lot of damage by the look of his blackened chest. Heaving, he takes a moment to check on his own systems, behind the half destroyed shuttle, before aiming that Electro-Blaster over the cover, firing without even the pretense of aiming. Combat: Venom sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Venom strikes Bluestreak with his Electro-Blaster attack! Flywheels laughs triumphantly, greatly amused by his successful hits despite the fact that the ugly-aft Autobot's blinding flashes of light had impaired his accuracy. "Eeeeh, that was just a lucky shot." "Oh shove it. I know I'm an excellent marksman!" "That was /me/, glitch." "I /am/ you!" "Oooh, look! It's a little human hiding behind some crates!" His F-4 Phantom II component has spotted Talia from above. A mounted laser weapon emerges from the jet and fires at the human female. Meanwhile, things aren't going so great for the howitzer, as it takes a hit from Repugnus' claws. "Argghhh, I /knew/ that wasn't a good idea! Frag, you're the ugliest slagging Autobot I've /ever/ seen! Seriously, you're damaging my optics with your /looks/. Do your friends just /avoid/ looking at you?" Combat: Jet and Tank misses Talia McKinley with its Laser Cannon attack! Flywheels' components combine into his unified biped form. Flywheels splits apart, his two components shifting into their respective F-4 Phantom II and self-propelled howitzer forms. "Good- now try to keep your head down!" Melody snaps at Talia and/or James- after all, they haven't got the luxury of a few inches of titanium alloy armor! Melody dashes into the fray, making it a point to stand in front of Talia, even as Misfire blazes away at her. "I can handle the big ones!" And Melody raises her rifle, firing off a tightly-grouped burst of fire right at the double targetmaster! *BRAAP!* "Not to hog all the fun, of course!" Combat: Battlesuit strikes Misfire with her Laser attack! Bug Creature laughs down at the howitzer as he stabs away. "Awww, now that's not very nice! And, well, as to your question--I don't have any friends! I just have people on my 'don't kill' list, which you aren't on!" However, listening to his radio, he realizes that Talia may be in a bit of trouble, and when he checks up on her he sees that the other half of Flywheel is trying to fry her with a laser. "Hey, now, that's MY human! Get your own!" Transforming into robot mode, he whips out his Venom Laser and fires a pale green, crackling bolt of paralyzing energy at the jet. Even as he fires, however, he wonders if he could have just shot at the howitzer. Will what he does to one component affect the other? He hopes so. The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode! Combat: Repugnus sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Repugnus strikes F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer with his Venom Laser attack! Combat: F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer has been temporarily incapacitated. James Bailey takes a short run towards the stack of crates Talia is using for cover, falls and slides feet-first behind them and then slowly raises his head to peek over, ducking back down whenever someone fires off a shot. "McKinley - did you see Venom? The green and yellow one. Looks like he's hurting. Aim for the chest, see if we can run him off!" Combat: James Bailey analyzes Venom for weaknesses Talia McKinley can exploit. If nothing else, she worked at distracting them. Talia jumps down from her perch with a dive and rolls clear of the resulting erupting of stray material shattering as the Decepticon fire blows up the stack of crates she was using as cover/sniping nest. And nicely enough Melody steps in to give her some cover while she gets back to her feet. And catches sight of the Insecticon trying to harass Bluestreak again. Raising her rifle and flicking on the sights again, she smirks a bit at James and his advice, takes aim with the laser-holo sights and fires off a short volley of rapid-fire. Combat: Talia McKinley misses Venom with her Controlled Burst-fire (Laser) attack! Misfire curses as his shot misses, he lets out a scream as another blast nails him in the shoulder, blasting off his shoulder's armor. He bangs into the wall as he looks towards the source of the blast. He takes a few stutter steps forward in order to rebalance himself. He points Aimless at Melody, as he lets out the Decepticon Battle Cry, right before another blast flies towards the Armored Human. Combat: Misfire's Ion Particle Blaster attack on Battlesuit goes wild! Combat: Misfire misses himself with his Ion Particle Blaster attack! -2 Venom remains hidden behind the charred remnant of the Vengeance-class attack shuttle, communicating softly on a Decepticon frequency. He can only hope that the reinforcements arrive in time, which means he must delay the Autobot takeover. On a separate frequency, he communicates with the alien ant swarm that he had flung previously at Bluestreak, asking the survivors (the little buggers have been fighting amongst themselves), to attack the big, red and yellow Autobot. Robot Tiger dashes into the melee! The call for help had come and the Predacon responds. "OK, who decided to ruin my Pop-Up Video Marathon?" He glares at the invading Autobots and Humans. "Who's first? Last one to speak up gets the beat-down." Combat: Venom strikes Repugnus with his Alien Ant Swarm attack! "Agghhh!" the flight form cries out as Repugnus strikes it with a stun. The F-4 Phantom falls from the air, headed for Talia who was just below. The howitzer is paralyzed as well. "I can't move, I can't move! Gah, this is what we get for your brash moves!" It whines. James Bailey begins moving forward now - it's hard to tell but the forces of good might actually be pushing ahead, and tiny unarmored organic or no, James wants to do his part. He pulls out his heavy-duty sidearm as he approaches. But then he sees more Decepticons emerging and ducks behind a support beam along one wall. "Look out!" he calls loudly. "More of them!" Then he steps out again and fires off a few shots, aiming for the latest arrival. Combat: James Bailey misses Robot Tiger with his Pistol attack! Repugnus peers down at himself, almost unbelieving as a swarm of little alien ants begins to climb all over him, biting away. "What the--killer insects, guys? What, was that your next scheme for taking over the Earth? Come *on.* Thought I gotta admit, they ARE annoying..." Scratching at himself, he looks around the room for something he can get the horrible little things off with... and spies a tank of shuttle fuel! "Ah-ha!" Transforming into bug mode, he uses the talons to tear the tank open with his claws, and as the fluid pools around his ankles, he lights it on fire with a shower of sparks. It goes up immediately, and soon Repugnus is surrounded by flames. "Gimme one or two seconds, guys!" he says amidst the inferno. Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode! Combat: Bug Creature strikes himself with his Can't Catch Monsterbots That Are On Fire attack! -3 "Damn it, Bailey! Let the heavy units take point!" Melody calls out at her comrade, and then she heads forward herself, not even batting an eye as Misfire's gun...well, misfires! She keeps up firing on the Decepticon, keeping up a steady stream of fire, eyes narrowed in deadly focus- And then she catches the flare of light as Repugnus immolates himself, and she can't help but ask: "...why'd we bring him again?" Combat: Battlesuit strikes Misfire with her Battle Rifle attack! Good thing Talia already moved from where she was being shot at. The Autobots seem to have the split freak and others well in hand, so she gets up against a wall and slinks a bit closer to where they last saw Venom scurry for cover like the bug he takes the form of. Sneaky bastard is hiding behind the shuttles though. Hmmm. She pauses for a moment looking up around the bay, then raises her rifle up, holding the trigger a bit to build up a bit more of a charge before firing. The shot wizzes by just over the shuttle, and hits a power conduit along the wall. The resulting shortout backfires the current down into the terminal box, causing it to explode in a burst of stray energy waves. Hopefully somewhere near where Venom is trying to take cover. Combat: Talia McKinley sets her defense level to Neutral. Combat: Talia McKinley strikes Venom with her Trick shooting for collateral damage (Laser) attack! It didn't seem to matter how much cover Bluestreak took, he still took the attacks of the Decepticons. He was hurting for a bit, but he forced himself to come together as he came up to where Venom was. Taking careful aim, he decided to give a nice payback to the insect first, before taking on any others. Combat: Bluestreak strikes Venom with his Shoulder-Mounted Rocket attack! Combat: Venom falls to the ground, unconscious. Following the Battle Cry, Aimless smokes, sparks, and backfires, nearly taking off Misfire's head. Misfire screams at Aimless, "AIMLESS!" He then proceeds to violently throw Aimless towards the ground. Meanwhile, Misfire is oblivious to the incoming weapons fire coming in from Melody. He staggers backwards as the laser blast pegs him square in the chest, knocking him flat on his back. He raises one hand in the air, as smoke pours out of his chest. Oblivious to Misfire's fate, Aimless bounces around the walls, his trigger jammed into the fire position. Aimless begins spewing Laser fire everywhere as he careens from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. "MISFIRE!!!" It's a good thing that Venom has altered his paint applications to match that of the dearly departed, Bombshell, Kickback, and Shrapnel. It hides the massive amounts of damage he has taken. Leaping out from behind his cover when he is stung in the back by a reflected laserbeam, he has to do something quick, or else they might lose Not-Blot Station. Transforming in mid-air into a Cicada, Cybertronian sized variety, his mandibles open up, and a luminescient green liquid emerges, spilling out onto the deck as he flies, and he's flying straight for the Monsterbot, which is currently on fire. Oh, isn't that sweet, he's going to put him out. Well, maybe not, it seems that's some kind of corrosive acid, it's already begun to eat through the deck. Lowering to the ground, Venom transforms into a giant Cicada. A few shots ricochet off the wall near where the tiger is standing. "Who did that? C'mon ya wimp, show yourself!" He fires blasts from his side-guns in the direction that the shots came from. Combat: Robot Tiger strikes James Bailey with his PEW PEW PEW! (Pistol) attack! Combat: Misfire misses Robot Tiger with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire's Random Barrage attack on Battlesuit goes wild! Combat: Misfire misses himself with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire strikes Bug Creature with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire misses Bluestreak with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire misses James Bailey with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire misses Talia McKinley with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire strikes F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 Combat: Misfire strikes himself with his Random Barrage Area attack! -3 It's a good thing that Venom has altered his paint applications to match that of the dearly departed, Bombshell, Kickback, and Shrapnel. It hides the massive amounts of damage he has taken. Leaping out from behind his cover when he is stung in the back by a reflected laserbeam, he has to do something quick, or else they might lose Not-Blot Station. Transforming in mid-air into a Cicada, Cybertronian sized variety, his mandibles open up, and a luminescient green liquid emerges, spilling out onto the deck as he flies, and he's flying straight for the Monsterbot, which is currently on fire. Oh, isn't that sweet, he's going to put him out. Well, maybe not, it seems that's some kind of corrosive acid, it's already begun to eat through the deck. But along that flight path, he is struck by the rocket from Bluestreak. It's not easy fighting two humans and two Cybertronians when you're the equivalent to a red cross doctor, so it's something of a small victory that he's survived this long. His trajectory is altered by the rocket, sending him back into the wall, actually, he makes a giant Cicada-shaped hole in it, as he finds himself in his laboratory once more. Groggily, he twitches, but is it a reflect action, or actual consciousness? Hard to say, as he doesn't seem to have noticed that he's struck right into his cabinet of doomsday devices, and one of them appears to be ticking. He should deal with that, you know, if he's conscious. "MISFIRE YOU SPAWN OF A GLITCH! Someone ought to teach you how to /actually/ hit things!" Flywheels hollers as he's struck by the other Decepticon's wild barrage. "Pff, he's no worse than /you/." The tank shoots at the Phantom. "Hey, well at least it got my servos back in working order!" The jet calls back. The self-propelled howitzer suddenly rolls forward at a surprisingly high speed for a tank, heading for Talia. Seems he's got a vendetta against her now, or something, because she attracted the jet's attention, causing them to get stunned by Repugnus. Combat: F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer strikes Talia McKinley with its Ram attack! Battlesuit , for all her battle-hardened experience, is taken quite aback by the sight of Aimless' barrage! She ducks beneath an errant burst of fire- and, seeing the nebulan skidding across the floor towards her, rears her heavy booted foot up and gives him a hearty *KICK!*- maybe it'll stop his shooting, at least! This done, Melody looks over her shoulder at her allies, and waves them forward. "C'mon! We've got an opening! Push through!" Talia McKinley gives Bluestreak a quick thumbs-up for knocking Venom down after she flushed him out. But there will be time for a proper celebrating once this fiasco is over with so that will have to do for now. Turning her attention back to the rest of the fight she darts behind some stray machinery again, letting it get peppered with bullet holes as Misfire lives up to his name instead of her. Unfortunately it doesn't hold up so well when a tank comes crashing through it. Talia grits her teeth in a hiss as she thuds against the front of the tank for a moment and battered around a bit before she gets her wits in order. Thank god her suit actually has some armor plating to it, but boy that's gonna leave some bruising. Rolling off the tank she gets back to her feet, and finds her rifle got smashed up as well. With a grunt of disgust she throws it aside, pulls her defense sidearm out instead, flicking the switch to deploy the electronic targetting systems as she points it out in a two-handed grip. A few moments later Melody would be getting a data-stream of tactical and firing data fed directly to the systems of her power suit. Combat: Battlesuit strikes Misfire with her Hey don't *Masters feel it when their nebulans get hurt? (Kick) attack! Bluestreak felt victorious, and grinned at McKinley's thumb's up, but not for long as he sees the howitzer strike Talia. Deciding to cover her, he stepped back a bit, right in front of the hole that Venom's body made, and pointed and aimed at Flywheels with his rifle, allowing her to do what she needs to. Although he didn't voice it, he figured that he and Repugnus can cover the human team's back while they figure out how to take the bridge. In his peripheral vision, he can see a clock counting down. That can't mean anything good. Combat: Bluestreak strikes F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer with his Ion-Charge Disperser Rifle attack! Combat: Talia McKinley takes extra time to assist Battlesuit 's next attack. Bug Creature , as one of the few people Misfire hit successfully, takes a bolt to the shoulder from the laser, shaking his head and grunting. Venom seems next in line to give him a beating, and Repugnus's claws snap out, extended forward invitingly. He stands, wreathed in flame as he waits for the Insecticon's charge. "COME ON! COME ON, DO YOUR WORST! YOU--aahhhh." Right about then, Bluestreak's missile puts the Insecticon through the wall. "Well, that sucks," he grumbles. He takes a moment to figure the situation. "Okay. Well. How best to make all the Decepticons mad at me..." There's Rampage shooting at Bailey, and then there's Flywheels trying to crush Talia. No can do. "Hey, Decepticon? How about we throw a tiger into that mix? You can be a tank/jet/tiger, doesn't that sound neat?" And, reaching for Rampage's tail, he tries to swing him around and around before tossing him at the howitzer! The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode! Combat: Repugnus strikes Robot Tiger with his Another Component For Flywheels (Ruckus) Area attack! Combat: Repugnus strikes F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer with his Another Component For Flywheels (Ruckus) Area attack! Venom is slumped, awkwardly, against a cabinet in his laboratory, where there are several devices, but the only one showing activity seems to be making a soft ticking noise, hardly noticeable, and brightly lit red digits. It's counting down, currently at 6:15. The mechanical ants in his farm seem oblivious to it, fighting in their own little war. The controls near the front of the transparent steel case currently read, 31,960 Janus Fighting Ants, 31,270 Inferno Fire Ants, and 756 Azteranean Worker Ants. Slowly rising up, Misfire manages to get in one knee as Aimless nails him in the chest. "Slag it!" Misfire curses as his armor is chipped again, causing him to collapse to the floor again. Misfire, manages to roll over slowly push himself back up. His optics stare daggers at Aimless. Misfire lets out a loud laugh as Melody kicks Aimless. "Serves you right!" However, he failed to calculate the trajectory as Aimless hits him square in the chest, knocking the pair to the ground. Aimless reverts to his Robot Mode, smoke pouring out of his systems. Aimless reaches and nudges Misfire. "Eh, you got my Flask..." Misfire laying on the ground sighs, "You are unbelievable..." Aimless shrugs limply at his friend. Misfire pushes up to one arm and shakes his head...with his free left hand he pulls out a small flask and hands it to Aimless and then pulls one out for himself. The pair each take long sips as Misfire pulls himself to a wall, Aimless now slumped against him. Combat: Misfire takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Robot Tiger yelps as Repugnus grabs a tiger by the tail! And as he hollers, Repugnus lets him go, eenie meenie miney mo! Unfortunately he falls into the Duocon. "I don't wanna be another Reflector!" he exclaims. He trains his gun ports right on the Monsterbot. "You on the other hand, look like you could use another hole in your head!" Combat: Robot Tiger strikes Repugnus with his Gun-Ports attack! Combat: Robot Tiger 's attack has damaged your Strength! The howitzer is driven backward, its armor smoking. Wow, that was a heavy hit by the Autobot gunner. He wasn't going to be able to take too many more hits like that one... Quickly, the F-4 Phantom flies downward toward the lower component and unites with it. The combined biped form of Flywheels then takes to the air, flying through the hole Venom's body has made and into the Insecticon scientist's lab. "Well, well, what do we have here?" he asks himself as his optics fall first onto Venom's prone form and then onto the various devices in the cabinet he smashed into. It isn't difficult to find the one with the softly flashing red light. "Looks like that's DDD6, whatever the slag /that/ stands for." All he knows is that it must be a bomb of sorts, one that is about to go off. Well, maybe it will go off sooner if someone shoots at it. He grabs it and tosses it out of the hole he had come through, whipping his laser weapon around and aiming it straight at the bomb as it flew through the air toward the fray outside the lab. Hmm, Misfire and Rampage might take some blows, but...he sure as the afterspark won't miss Misfire and his nebulon partner Aimless all that much. He fires at it, hoping to set it off. Flywheels' components combine into his unified biped form. Battlesuit watches Misfire go down, and nods. "And -STAY- down!" she barks out, rifle held up menacingly. This done, she takes a few more steps forward- only to see Venom go down, and his setting off of a- "BOMB!" But, before Melody can lunge forward and act, Flywheels is already throwing it around! Well, that was easy. And so, Melody seizes the opportunity, heading forward 'til she can get to a defensible position near a hall leading further into the ship! "McKenzie! Bailey! Run down this hallway and find something important, like a command console! Bluestreak, give them some cover fire! Repugnus..." she trails off, and finally adds on: "Don't hurt anyone on our side!" Hey, with some folks, it pays to be safe... Combat: Battlesuit inspires James Bailey, Talia McKinley, and Repugnus with righteous and moving words! Talia McKinley mutters a bit about her side being sore now, but soldiers on. Having fed Melody as much data as she can she switchs off the relay, then moves her other hand down to pull a second pistol from the other holster. Though this one is just a generic blaster gun without the fancy extra tech. It's just a precaution anyways. With everything else in the fight devolving into chaos, she darts back down the corridor, already thinking the same thing Melody was and find a way farther into the station under the cover of the chaotic fighting. Combat: Talia McKinley takes extra time to steady herself. Pass Repugnus does a hip-thrust as he manages a briefly successful merger of Rampage and Flywheels, but it's sadly interrupted and before he knows it he's riddled with bullets. "Man, you Decepticons are no fun--" he says just as the DDD6 flies into view. He has a brief look at it and immediately recognizes it as some kind of experimental explosive. 'Ah, hell... er, no promises, Ms. Melody!" he says, diving to the floor shortly before the room is quickly and radically altered by the MASSIVE EXPLOSION which devastates the room, sends the Autobot shuttle flying across the hangar, and blasts a gaping hole into the station, revealing the Earth in all its glory. "Okay, I take that back, the Decepticons ARE fun! Hahahaha! Uh, wow!" He takes a moment to pick himself up and wipe his knees off, for all the good that does. Combat: Repugnus takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Bluestreak went in to grab the bomb, but that jet component got to it first. Before he knew it, that insane duocon threw it into the air and shot at it. He made a leap for the bomb, but heard what Melody says. Frowning, he backed away from the bomb to cover Talia and James, when he gets knocked back by the explosion. Luckily it was away from the gaping hole in the station. He hit the wall opposite, dazed but okay. Meanwhile, the station switches to emergency power, illuminating the station in red light. There'd be loud klaxons blaring if there was an atmosphere. Combat: Bluestreak takes extra time to steady himself. Pass James Bailey glances at the Battlesuit'ed Melody, scans the interior of the hallway and then heads back towards where Repugnus is. "Need to--" he's cut of by the explosion, staring at the hole where the shuttle used to be. "Well, there goes our ride. Guess it's win the station back or bust now!" He examines a wall panel and then reaches for the edges, pulling it off to reveal a small crawlspace behind. It's way to small for the average Cybertronian, and even a battlesuit or Exo would find it a tight fit, but for a normal human it's quite comfortable. James looks for a while, then shrugs and climbs in. Ironically, the only part of the station that does seem to still have full power is Venom's lab. The lifeless form of the Insecticon Commander is well lit, showing off the extensive damage he's taken. The worrying thing that no one seems to have noticed is that the bomb that just took half the hanger deck, as well as part of an adjacent section, was one item in an entire cabinet. Combat: James Bailey takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Flywheels laughs as the explosion consumes the room, taking the Autobots and EDC off guard. "Haha! That was fun!" He crowed, only to rebuke himself an astrosecond later, "That almost got us killed. Robot Tiger yelps as the bomb goes off and hits the deck! "ARGH what, where'd that come from?" Debris scatters and lands on him, possibly burying him! Combat: Robot Tiger takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Aimless looks at Misfire, "Uh....what is DDD6?" Misfire looks at him. "What did you say?" Aimless stares at him. "You never listen to me...DDD6 what....*ACK*!" Before Aimless can finish his second thought, Misfire bolts to his feet yanking Aimless into the air, causing both Mechs to lose their flasks and interrupting Aimless' statement. Misfire huffs and puffs as he begins running full towards the emergency escape pods. "We're gonna die...We're bonna die!" Misfire says to Aimless who is dangling in the air, being dragged off by one arm. As the bomb rips the station open, the flasks drift off into space, energon trickling out of them. *Parting shots here* The pair leap into one of the emergency escape pods and presses the button to launch. Aimless looks at Misfire, "You owe me a flask..." Misfire just sighs. Combat: Misfire begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Robot Tiger and Battlesuit Flywheels laughs as the explosion consumes the room, taking the Autobots and EDC off guard and blowing a hole in the hangar. "Haha! That was fun!" He crowed, only to rebuke himself an astrosecond later, "That almost got us killed." "Oh shut up. Let's do that again, except let's do some /real/ damage this time! If we can't keep this Primus-forsaken station, then the /no one/ slagging will!" "NO! No! What the frag are you /doing/, don't do this, YOU'LL KILL US ALL!" "Nah, don't worry, I can fly /way/ faster than those pathetic Autobots!" With that, he grabs as many of venom's bombs as he can and heads for an elevator, taking it to the upper levels where the main generators that supply power to the station are. Flying over to them, he arms as many of them as he can figure out and punches through the metal protecting the reactor. Ouch, it was hot in there and it hurt like frag, but he throws them into the reactor, then books it the slag out of there. He's not really sure why he had to arm some of them, really, explosives being explosives, they should simply go off when dropped into a nuclear reactor. Flywheels splits apart, his two components shifting into their respective F-4 Phantom II and self-propelled howitzer forms. Combat: F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. The bombs do their thing. Well, some of them were bombs. Some of them might have actually been chemical weapons of various, horrifying types. But there was indeed just enough explosive material careless tossed in that, once they are doused with the extreme levels of radiation that the core puts out, they quickly go off, and flames pour forth from the breach in the shielding, which glows white hot. The reactor room is quickly totaled as the blast spreads throughout the room, as if that wasn't bad enough, the fissile materials begin to go into meltdown! Repugnus , meanwhile, stumbles to the ground as the station is rocked by yet another powerful blast. He glares over his shoulder at Rampage. "You Decepticons did quite a number on this station," he growls, "Give you that. But whether we can save it or not, at least YOU people aren't on it anymore!" He tries to pick the Predacon up by the shoulders and throw him out the hole in the hangar, right at the Earth. "When you impact on the surface, tell Satan I said hello!" Combat: Repugnus strikes Robot Tiger with his Away With You Cretin (Grab) attack! Sealed in her Battlesuit, Melody is (mostly) safe from the worst of the chemical and radioactive pathogens being thrown about! Hopefully. She grabs for the wall as the station starts to shake, and then leaps into action! The retreating 'cons are forgotten- instead, Melody's dashing down a hallway- finally peeking down into the vent James has gotten into. "I don't know what the hell that was, but it sounded -bad-. James, can you patch into the emergency control systems and engage something close to a safety protocol? Otherwise, it's gonna be a long damn time 'til a rescue shuttle comes, and I'm afraid there's not enough room in my suit for passengers." She pauses, and then glances over at Bluestreak. "...Your car-mode isn't airtight, is it?" Bluestreak feels the shuttle shake and and his optics brighten in worry. "What was-" He feels another BOOM come forth. "I think we need to get out of here before this whole place takes us along with it!" Talia McKinley doesn't find the bridge, but she does find one of the security guardposts. Close enough to any port in the storm as they say. She slips inside, holsters both her pistols and climbs up onto one of the larger consoles. "Ugh. Where's a computer geek when y'all need one...." Computers outside a cockpit isn't really her thing. Never the less, after hearing James' comment over the radio she tries looking for something to activate blast shields or whatnot. Limit whatever damage can be limited if it -does- blow up. Combat: Talia McKinley takes extra time to steady herself. Pass Robot Tiger goes flying and manages to grab Venom as he sails out the hole! "TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!" Combat: Robot Tiger begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer and Battlesuit It has not been a good week for Venom. First, he lost the Undersea Base. Then, he lost Not-Blot Station. But at least, thanks to Rampage, he's not lost his life. But how will the Predacon get them back to Earth, Mars, or places unknown. For now, that's not his worry, as he's unconscious. Repugnus grabs Bluestreak by the shoulders. "Get a GRIP on yourself, man! We can win this!" He looks at the hangar, which appears absent of any further resistance. "We DID win this! So, CHILLAX!" He gives Bluestreak a little slap, punctuated by a girly squeek. Then he turns away, grinning and laughing like a madman. What? Combat: Repugnus strikes Bluestreak with his girly slap (Grab) attack! Bluestreak is shaken and slapped by Repugnus. He just looks at him with a VERY confused expression. F-4 Phantom and Self-Propelled Howitzer can be heard laughing as he retreats away from Copernicus. "Aaaand the Copernicus is officially a wreck! Hahahaha! Eat that radioactive slag, Autoboobs! Good luck /rebuilding/ it too!" "That was /too/ close/." "Pfff, you're such a strutless ninny, it was /so/ worth it!" "Lowering yourself to /human/ name-calling, are you?" "Oh shove it up your waste regulator!" "You glitchead, /my/ waste regulator IS your waste regulator!" James Bailey begins the procedure to eject the station's power core. Along the way he dismisses or accepts countless warnings, authorization requests, and finally slips his old EDC ID card into a magnet reader for final confirmation. "Here goes nothing," he mutters. Then while examining a schematic of the station for results of his actions, his attention is drawn to a small storage room. "Civilian Armory...?" he reads aloud. ".. Aha, here we go." Well, she thinks so. Talia stomps on the button that should seal the blast doors around the reactor section. That will at least keep the radiation down until James can find the means to eject it. They're going to just have to pull a Magnus and blow up 2/3rds a base to keep the other third, I guess. Bluestreak holds on to something just in case, he was already bounced around already, who knows what would happen next? Battlesuit winces a bit as the station bounces around, and shakes, and...then, nothing? "Uh." she says, looking this way and that. "...we're still alive. Was that the worst of it?" Repugnus's method of bracing for impact is a little different. Instead, he finds a rec room that the Decepticons had been using between shifts. "Hah, what a pit. Looks like my quarters in Autobot City," he says, taking in the messy room with all its chipped paint and oil spills. He throws himself down onto a couch, kicks one leg over the other, puts his hands behind his head, and waits. There's some more shaking out of the station, but he manages to stay in his relaxed posture. "Huh. Well, that was fun." James Bailey shuts down the terminal behind him and then makes his way through the crawlspaces for the Armory. It's uncomfortably close to the danger area but chances are any weapons or armor inside of there were spared from the effects of the Decepticon's tech-destroying wave. And James is already tired of Infantry duty.